Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Lucius had been fighting against the fire mage and the assassin for almost twenty minutes. He had plenty of stamina left, but he could not penetrate their defenses without exposing himself to too much danger.

"[Dagger Arts: Dual Strike]!"

"[Flamma: Fire Spear], [Flamma: Fire Bolt]"

Lucius twisted out of the way with ease to avoid the spells and was able to barely block the mana blade from the [Dual Strike] thanks to his [Lightning Charge]. The actual blade strike barely glanced at his shoulder and left a light cut, but it was only enough to draw blood and no real damage occurred.

The broken hilt was classified by his skill to be an improvised weapon, so he strengthened it with a [Savage Strike] and attempted to bash it across Hetha's chest. Her quick movements made it seem simple enough to dodge, but Lucius would not let her get away easily and was able to zap her with a bolt of electricity before she could respond.

It was not a powerful hit, but enough to hurt and make her disengage. He quickly took that opportunity to leap back and cast one of his stronger spells, [Roaring Thunder]. Lucius added in mana from his [Merciless] skill, giving the ensuing lightning dragon a streak of red.

Fighting against two Advance Rankers at once was reaching Lucius's limit for fighting above his weight class. With the proper preparations, he could have probably taken them from a distance, but immediately being forced into close combat made it difficult for him. Getting space to cast [Roaring Thunder] was what he had been trying for during the past twenty minutes, and he was finally able to.

The dragon flew at the two fighters, primarily targeting Eron, who had fewer defenses. However, just as the spell was about to hit, a flash of yellow intercepted and dispersed the spell. "[Shield Arts: Grand Barrier]"

Lucius had been so distracted trying to create his opening that he failed to notice a newcomer on the battlefield. For a moment, a flash of joy settled within his heart as he realized that it was Kalliope who had joined the battle.

"Oh! And it looks like our newest Advance Ranker has joined the fight! Welcome to the arena… the Feral Mutt!"

Lucius clicked his tongue and vowed to kill the announcer for insulting Kalliope like that. Surprisingly, Kalliope did not seem to mind. Or rather, she seemed completely indifferent to everything, even the fact that he was there in front of her.

"Kalliope! I came for…"

"A word, Titan!" Itorin's voice echoed throughout the chamber, "Your dear friend there agreed to defeat you to save a friend of hers. Things have changed, you see. So don't go expecting any help from her! Ah, but a gift, I suppose."

Lucius heard the sound of metal clanging against the stone behind him. He turned to see a cheap-looking machete had been thrown into the arena. It looked no better quality than what a poor farmer would possess. Even the blade itself was dull thanks to its poor craftsmanship and life of improper care.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Pick it up." Kalliope demanded. Her hand was tightly wrapped around her sword. He could see the tremble in her lips and fingers. It was clear she did not want to do this.

"You don't have to do this," Lucius said. "You can make a different choice."

Kalliope sighed. He could hear the quiver in her throat as she seemed on the verge of crying. Whoever this person she was trying to help was, they must have been important. He knew there was no way she would let them kill him, but it still hurt that she chose to fight.

"[Beast Arts: Queen's Roar]!" Kalliope's voice filled with mana and shook the stone in the arena. It was clear she had grown in power. The announcer's information saying she was an Advance Ranker now was certainly the truth.

Lucius felt himself momentarily stunned and frozen in place by the skill. He gritted his teeth and managed to squeak out, "[Abyss Break: Abyss Armor]"

The familiar feeling of darkness turning to metal surrounded his body. He still couldn't move himself, but the six tendrils were able to do some work without his input. The trapped equipment he was wearing attempted to stun him for using his mark, but the power of Lucius's Channeling kept it at bay.

Since he was a Thunder Magic user, lightning spells were his forte. Corva had told him he would likely be able to resist the stun effect of the equipment himself if he concentrated on Channeling the Thunder Magic mana in his body to form a protective barrier along his skin.

Sure enough, the elf enchanter was correct and every pulse of the Thunder Magic Runes dissipated across his skin the moment it came into contact with his barrier. To ensure that he was maximizing the effect, he also imbued the barrier with [Lightning Charge] so that he was using it to help speed up his movements.

Granted, he couldn't move at the moment, thanks to Kalliope…

"You're in for it now!" Hetha shouted as she jumped straight in with a dagger attack. "[Dagger Arts: Piercing Strike]! [Dagger Arts: Mana Blades]!"

Three of the six shadow tendrils protecting Lucius moved to defend from Hetha's attack, with the dagger as well as the three additional daggers formed out of mana that seemed to hover around her.

Lucius continued to struggle against the [Queen's Roar], but before he could move, Kalliope also dove in to attack. "[Shield Arts: Double Bash]"

The two other tendrils moved to block the mana shield and physical shield simultaneously, while the final one moved to try and harass Kalliope and keep her sword arm busy. Eron was not an idiot and took this excellent opportunity to cast a spell. "[Flamma: Fire Spear]!"

A magical, flaming spear launched straight at Lucius. One tendril each pulled away from Kalliope and Hetha to try and block the attack. Lucius also finally gained the ability to move and attempted to slice the spell with a swipe enhanced by a [Savage Strike].

The tendrils and weapon managed to block enough of the spell to not allow it to pierce his body, but it still shredded through the tendrils and slammed into his chest with enough force to toss Lucius a few feet into the air.

Smoke and steam rose from a hole in the black chest plate. Searing, white hot pain flashed across Lucius's whole front side as he moved to stand. Hetha and Kalliope were already on him as he tried to recover. Eron was also preparing another spell.

Lucius quickly fired out two [Lightning Bolts], one aimed at Kalliope and Hetha, as they were the closest.

"[Shield Arts: Barrier]" Kalliope once again blocked the magic, though this time with a weaker version of the skill.

"[Flamma: Fireball]"

With both hands occupied casting his spells, and being physically impaired by the pain, Lucius was unable to fully dodge the Fire spell. The four remaining tendrils formed a sort of shield as the spell erupted from behind him. The heat was immense and the force threw him face-first into Kalliope's [Barrier].

Lucius still had the armor active but only one tendril remained. He used it as leverage to fling himself away from the two warriors, barely dodging another set of strikes from them. The landing was far from graceful, but he dodged the hits nonetheless.

"Three's the limit, eh… Damn…" Lucius mumbled. "Any minute now though…"

Lucius looked up at Kalliope with a smile and saw that her ears had twitched. It seemed like she had heard it, too. Off in the distance, there was a faint series of shouting followed by a small explosion.

The audience, which had been roaring for blood earlier, suddenly began to scream and shout. Realizing the explosion did not come from the battle taking place in front of them. Kalliope and Hetha were on top of him now.

"[Sword Arts: Heavy Slash]!" Kalliope swung her sword angrily and with a flash of light, Hetha's head rolled onto the ground at her feet.

"Good choice." Lucius laughed. The mana filling the armor on their bodies vanished without a trace. A moment later, the barrier separating the arena from the stands vanished, no longer being powered by the crystal in Itorin's office.